Church: Owen – UCC- New Pastor (1976)

Transcriber: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Swanson, Savides

---------Source: Owen Enterprise (Owen, Clark County, Wis.) 06 Oct 1976

Installation services are being planned by the First Congregational United Church of Christ for Sunday, October 17, 1976. Rev. Loren Swanson will be officially installed as pastor by Rev. James Savides, Association Minister for the Northwest Association of the Wisconsin Conference of the United Church of Christ. Rev. Swanson, who has been serving the Owen church since July 14, is a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve Corps. He was one of eight reserve chaplains in the United States to be called to active duty for eleven months at the U.S. Army Chaplain School at Ft. Wadsworth, New York.

Pastor Swanson completed his undergraduate work at Northwest Christian College at Eugene, Oregon, and took his seminary training in Enid, Oklahoma, where he received his Bachelor of Divinity in 1960. While in New York City, Rev. Swanson was also enrolled in the New York Theological Seminary and received a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Counseling and two quarters of Clinical Pastoral Education. He is also working on Phase three of the Command and General Staff course at Ft. McCoy at the present time.

Also taking an active roles in community and church activities are his wife Jeanne, and daughters Karen, currently employed as a dental assistant in Marshfield, Linda, Terri, and Sheila, who are very active in school activities and church choir.

Rev. Swanson hails from Los Angeles, where his mother is still living. His two brothers live nearby, Newport Beach, where Gene is a minister for a Christian Church, and Gary is a professor of nuclear physics at the University of Southern California.

Following the installation service will be a potluck dinner held in the basement of the church. A short program will be presented at that time, and Pastor Swanson will lead group singing and entertain the group with solo numbers.